Screen grab from the Dark magazine site showing opening few lines of story "Hunger".
Hey friends! I have a brand new story up at The Dark. Somewhat autobiographical, and one of the favorite things I've written for that. I hope you'll give it a read. It is a bit strange and dark.
www.thedarkmagazine.com/hunger-2/
Cover for issue 13 of Weird Horror. Art by James Hutton depicts a red figure with tree limbs sprouting from mouth and chest and yellow moon in background.
I know issue 12 isn't even out yet—soon—but revel in the glory of the cover and contributors of issue 13 (Summer). Art by James Hutton. Design by Vince Haig.
I'll be doing a big pre-order push soon on our 2026 titles to try and secure some much-needed operating funds.
Thanks!
FOR YOUR CONSIDERATION:
"My Stalagmite" for the Literary Nasties. This is a 1k story I wrote about butt plugs and body horror. Here's how it works:
1) read story: www.twinpiesliterary.com/fuck-us-up/m...
2) vote for story: filthyloot.com/literary-nas...
Thank you for your support!
🔥💀Announcing the Shortlist for BRAVE NEW WEIRD: The Best New Weird Horror + More Vol 4💀🔥
Congrats to everyone on this list: you're officially a BNW-nominated author! And thank you to the hundreds who submitted, as always this was excruciating to narrow down.
Weird is strong🖤☠️
tinyurl.com/yc6t5fj8
I'm currently writing the next installment of our somewhat haphazard newsletter and it might be of particular interest to submitting writers who were promised Part 2 of what qualities suffuse a potential STP story.
You can read Part 1 from last year here.
Today is Kathe Koja’s birthday!!! This is also a reminder that Kathe is one of the greatest living authors of horror/dark fiction and she had the most explosive, remarkable debut since Barker’s Books of Blood. They don’t crash land on the horror scene like they used to. Love you, Kathe! ❤️
Two of my stories from 2024 are in this list. Which is nice. In good company, too.
ellendatlow.com/2026/01/03/f...
Ah, cool. It has a kind of burning celluloid film effect. Good luck with the event.
Wow! Very cool. What medium / technique is this?
send Zach cool shit! send him current & upcoming collections you're passionate about, especially if you fear they'll slip between the cracks! advocate for yourself and for your peers you admire
Beginning of the year plea: I am always on the lookout for collections of weird fiction by nonwhite authors, especially those that will be published in 2026. If you wrote one or are publishing one or just know of one, please get in touch. doomsdayer.wordpress.com/contact
GUIDELINES (Please read carefully) NOTE: I receive over 2,000 submissions per call. Only writers whose work is selected for the volume will receive a response. Thanks for understanding. This is a reprint fiction anthology, to be published later this year, 2026. I am seeking material first published last year, in 2025. To be clear, only weird fiction FIRST published in 2025 is eligible for inclusion in this volume. I will accept translated work as long as the first English-language publication was 2025. To repeat—this volume is for stories originally first published in 2025. We are not accepting previously unpublished stories, or stories published prior to 2025 in any form. Stories between 500 and 17,499 words are considered. Please check with your publisher if you are uncertain about the reprint rights to your work. Stories created with or assisted by Generative AI, in any way, are ineligible and will not be considered. Audio only stories are also ineligible, unless they also appeared as text. Writers can send in their work using the form below only. Do not e-mail your story. You can send up to three (3) stories, but each must be sent separately. Ensure your byline and e-mail address are on the manuscript. NOTE: The submission form does not like any strange characters—asterisks, parenthesis, hashtags, etc.—in the form fields. Please use text and numbers only. Deadline for all material is February 28. Payment is a small $25 U.S. honorarium and 1 copy each of the print and electronic editions.
Writers! Vol. 2 of 'The Best Weird Fiction of the Year' is open to your submissions. Please adhere to the guidelines.
undertowpublications.com/best-weird-f...
I forgot to mention it on NYE:
THE CHAIR COMPANY. So good. Tense, paranoid, odd, darkly funny - I fell in love with the whole series. It felt like it was written for me. Insert Junji Ito "this is my hole" meme here.
We're open for fiction submissions!
We publish unsettling bad time stories that straddle the horror, fantasy, and science fiction spectrum. But genre is made up so if you have a dark weird horrible story that could be a fit, send it in and let us worry about it.
No closing date, open indefinitely.
Thank you! And there's no hurry at all re the new thing.
Actually, so is the second.
That last paragraph is an excellent description of your work.
Thanks, Samir. Looking forward to Gore Poetics, by the way.
That's good of you to say, Sasha, thank you, and back at you.
Sounds great. Enjoy.
And to you!
Anyway. Hopefully, 2026 continues to build upon these last few months' better vibes. I've started writing again, and am glad of that. I want to continue, and for a while I didn't.
Now. Onward.
(5/5)
Several pieces by @seanbirnie.bsky.social, @sashabrown.bsky.social, and @horrorsong.blog - some published, some not (yet), but which I've been fortunate enough to read anyway. Thank you for sharing it with me.
None of the above is exhaustive, of course. It's just what comes immediately to mind.(4/5)
Writing: "In the Dream, He is Skinless and Beautiful" by @spencerwriting.bsky.social in Wierd Horror (@undertow.bsky.social).
"The Junction" by Alison Moore (@nightjarpress.bsky.social).
(3/5)
That said, some things that have stuck with me this year, and which spring immediately to mind:
Films: EDDINGTON, STALKER, 28 YEARS LATER.
(2/5)
Time for a stock take.
It's been an odd year for me. Mental health stuff, which I'm thankful to have come out the other side of. Only recently have I been able to not just absorb, but enjoy, writing, film, art. These last couple of months, I've gradually started to feel like myself again (1/5)
JAMES MERRILL CHRISTMAS TREE From loes torn hamin Had been fed, looked after, kept still, Meant, I knew— of course I knew - That it would be only a matter of weeks, That there was nothing more to do. Warmly they took me in, made much of me, The point from the start was to keep my spirits up. I could assent to that. For honestly, It did help to be wound in jewels, to send Their colors flashing forth from vents in the deep Fragrant sables that cloaked me head to foot. Over me then they wove a spell of shining — Purple and silver chains, eavesdripping tinsel, Amulets, milagros: software of silver, A heart, a little girl, a Model T Two staring eyes. Then angels, trumpets, BUD and BEA (The children's names) in clownlike capitals, Somewhere a music box whose tiny song Played and replayed I ended before long By loving. And in shadow behind me, a primitive IV To keep the show going. Yes, yes, what lay ahead Was clear: the stripping, the cold street, my chemicals Plowed back into the Earth for lives to come — No doubt a blessing, a harvest, but one that doesn't bear, Now or ever, dwelling upon. To have grown so thin. Needles and bone. The little boy's hands meeting About my spine. The mother's voice: Holding up wonderfully! No dread. No bitterness. The end beginning. Today's Dusk room aglow For the last time With candlelight. Faces love-lit, Gifts underfoot. Still to be so poised, so Receptive. Still to recall, to praise.
James Merril’s poem “Christmas Tree,” written while he was dying of AIDS. 1995.
